Group-iii nitride compound semiconductor light-emitting device, method of manufacturing group-iii nitride compound semiconductor light-emitting device, and lamp

Abstract

A group-III nitride compound semiconductor light-emitting device, a method of manufacturing the group-III nitride compound semiconductor light-emitting device, and a lamp. The method includes the steps of: forming an intermediate layer (12) made of a group-III nitride compound on a substrate (11) by activating and reacting gas including a group-V element with a metal material in plasma; and sequentially forming an n-type semiconductor layer (14), a light-emitting layer (15), and a p-type semiconductor layer (16) each made of a group-III nitride compound semiconductor on the intermediate layer (12). Nitrogen is used as the group-V element, and the thickness of the intermediate layer (12) is in the range of 20 to 80 nm.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD[0001]The present invention relates to a group-III nitride compound semiconductor light-emitting device applicable to, for example, a light-emitting diode (LED), a laser diode (LD), or an electronic device, a method of manufacturing a group-III nitride compound semiconductor light-emitting device, and a lamp.[0002]Priority is claimed on Japanese Patent Application No. 2006-302814, filed Nov. 8, 2006, the content of which is incorporated herein by reference.BACKGROUND ART[0003]A group-III nitride semiconductor light-emitting device has a direct-transition-type energy band gap corresponding to the range from visible light to ultraviolet light, and has high emission efficiency. Therefore, the group-III nitride semiconductor light-emitting device has been used as a light-emitting device, such as an LED or an LD.[0004]When the group-III nitride semiconductor light-emitting device is used for an electronic device, it is possible to obtain an electronic device having better ...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing a group-III nitride compound semiconductor light-emitting device with a high crystallinity, using a low-temperature buffer layer made of aluminum nitride or aluminum gallium nitride formed on a substrate and a method of forming a stable and good crystal on the substrate. The invention also provides a method of forming a buffer layer using a sputtering method and growing a crystal with the same composition as the buffer layer using an MOCVD method. The method of manufacturing a group-III nitride compound semiconductor light-emitting device with a high crystallinity can improve the performance and stability of electronic devices made using the semiconductor.

Problems solved by technology

There is large lattice mismatch between the substrate and a group-III nitride semiconductor crystal epitaxially grown on the substrate.

In general, the large lattice mismatch makes it difficult to epitaxially grow a crystal on the substrate directly.

Even though the crystal is grown on the substrate, it is difficult to obtain a crystal having high crystallinity.

However, in the methods disclosed in Patent Documents 1 to 4, it is difficult to obtain a group-III nitride compound semiconductor having sufficiently high crystallinity.

However, in the method disclosed in Patent Document 5, it is difficult to form a stable and good crystal on a substrate.

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